The present invention relates to apparatus for longitudinally cutting ribbons and the like from webs of material. At present, most ribbons are produced by one of two methods.
In one method, ribbons are cut from webs of material by mounting the rolled web of material on a suitable support roll in a lathe-like machine and rotating the roll. A rotating knife blade is adjusted longitudinally of the web a distance corresponding to the width of the ribbon. The blade is then moved radially inwardly toward the axis of the bolt of material to sever the roll of ribbon from the remainder of the bolt.
However, because of shrinkage, stretching and the lateral shifting of the material as it is wound to form the bolt, it is impossible to align the pattern of each turn of the bolt with the immediately proceding or succeeding turn. Thus, as a result, only webs of random patterns or solid colors are used to produce ribbons by this method.
In the second method, ribbons are cut from fabric by unrolling the web past an array of knives (either stationary or rotary and in some cases heated) whose positions are fixed. The resulting ribbons are then re-rolled at the take-up end of the machine. In this method, as in the first one, due to constant variation in the growth, shrinkage and lateral shifting of the web, no consistent alignment is maintained between the cutting knives and the pattern on the web. Again, only "random pattern" materials are used.